Instructions

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

But it’s clear that he will be the driver.
No wonder. The tour has the most to
gain by the Players/PGA Championship
change. There are business implications that
administrators favor from a competitive a nd
lifestyle perspective. The CliffsNotes version
is popular with its players, especially when
they learn that if the proposal were to take
effect, Monahan has said it’s “likely” that
the FedEx playoffs will be reduced from
four events to three. Even less-than-flush
young journeymen feel hurried and worn out
from the PGA Championship through the
FedEx Cup, and stars are looking for more
preparation time for big tournaments, or
simply more time off. (The current FedEx deal
ends this year but is expected to be renewed.)
“I like the change – I do,” says Adam Scott,
as if it is a fait accompli. The Queenslander,
whose first big win was the 2004 Players,
then played in March, said, “I thought it was
great – back then, it felt like this is the start
of important golf for the year. It still does
have a big-tournament feel, but it’s maybe
unnecessarily searching for its identity there
in May. And I definitely would like to see the
PGA move to May. It won’t be as hot at some of
the places we have to go.”
Speaking unofficially for regular winners
in their mid-30s with children, Scott is
particularly drawn to the idea of the season
finishing by the American Labour Day. “We
need to give everyone a break from PGA Tour
golf,” he says, “but we just seem to roll on week
after week, month after month. I’d love to see
the tour end and have a couple-month break
where there’s no golf and everyone gets really
amped up for the new season.”
Unmarried 20-something Rickie Fowler
concurs: “It would be nice if we could get
some sort of off-season.” Jason Dufner sees
only positives. “I’d like to see the Players
go to March, when I think you get a better
golf course that time of year – tougher,
firmer, faster. The PGA, just kind of fit it in
somewhere in the season as soon as possible.
It’d be great to end the season by Labour Day.
All the other professional sports have two to
three months off. We don’t have any time off.”
Zach Johnson is against changing the
order – “I’m a creature of habit” – but as a
former Player Advisory Council member,
he understands the importance of the tour
presumably drawing higher television-rights
fees with a product that does not compete with
football. (The PGA Tour’s contract with CBS,
NBC and Golf Channel is up in 2021, though
the tour can opt out of its deal with CBS and
NBC in 2018; the PGA of America’s contract
with Turner and CBS is through 2019.) “From
a TV standpoint, which is really our No.1
sponsor,” Johnson says, “it makes sense.”
There’s irony here. For a long time, the
tour’s officials and players chafed at the
Players being perceived as a tune-up for the
Masters. Golf writers would come to Ponte
Vedra Beach and spend much of their time
writing Masters previews, thwarting the
narrative that the Players be accepted as
the fifth major. A sentiment grew that the
tournament needed to get away from the
Masters, becoming part of a sequence of
majors and perhaps getting that status.
The Players remains a huge success, but
players talk about the energy with spectators
being higher in March, when many fans
are on spring break or otherwise holidaying.
Players also say that because the course
played tougher in March – more blustery
weather and less-manicured conditioning – it
felt more like a major.
“I remember it as more gnarly,” J.J. Henry
says. “It tested you more.” As for the previous
annoyance about being perceived as a warm-
up for the Masters, time has shown that the
Players probably got more net attention in
March than in early May, which is part of a
relatively slow spot on the tour, and which
frames the Players as a continuum between
stops like Charlotte and Dallas rather than
being the pinnacle of the Florida swing. It’s
highly doubtful there would be serious
opposition to a return to March.
The US PGA Championship is a different
story. It’s clear that the PGA of America has
less to gain and potentially more to lose by
moving its championship to May. Although
in the ’80s its championship was regularly
mocked for its oppressive weather and the
quality of its venues, the PGA worked hard in
the ’90s to reverse the perception, mostly by
going to better courses, and is now proud and
happy being the last of the four majors. In fact,
the tour in 2013 asked the PGA Championship
to drop the motto Glory’s Last Shot, on the
premise that the FedEx Cup playoffs afford
the same. The PGA acquiesced, and now uses
The Season’s Final Major – at a time of year,
by the way, that is discernibly bereft of sports
competition, beyond baseball’s dog days.
PGA CHAMPIONSHIP CONCERNS
Especially as Tiger Woods steadily gained
on Jack Nicklaus’ career totals, the four ma-
jors began to equalise in terms of historical
importance. Something else happened: the
chronological Grand Slam began to appear
more doable, and the last slot gained cur-
rency. Woods made it all palpable by com-
pleting the Tiger Slam at the 2001 Masters,
and in 2002 he won the first two majors
before being thwarted by a stormy Saturday
at Muirfield. Jordan Spieth nearly won the
first three legs in 2015, narrowly missing at St
Andrews. The PGA is hesitant to give up the
chance to be the climactic theatre for history.
The championship would also see its
options for possible venues reduced. May
is problematic for the big-scale Golden Era
classics like Oak Hill, Oakmont, Winged Foot,
etc. that are most concentrated in America’s
north-east. Although the PGA’s geographical
identity is already more Sun Belt-connected
than the US Open, in May it would be forced to
become more so.
Its target would become big footprints
in big markets, especially in Florida, with
Trump Doral probably the best-equipped
facility in that state to host a major. The new
Trinity Forest in Dallas would be intriguing,
as well as potential sites in Arizona (Desert
Mountain), Las Vegas (Shadow Creek) and
Southern California (LA North). Maybe even
the small-gallery, high-prime-time TV ratings
temptations of Hawaii.
All of which means that when it comes
to the potential move, the man with the
hammer is PGA of America chief executive
Pete Bevacqua. He acknowledges that his
organisation began considering the possibility
of moving the championship dates as soon as
Olympic golf became a goal, but he also says
evenly, “The good news is, we love the August
date. It’s working better than it ever has. We
like the position we’re in now. We don’t need
to do anything.”
Which is true. When it came to Monahan’s
quasi-public negotiation, his go-to was pretty
squishy. “Let me just say this,” Monahan said
at Kapalua in January. “Pete and the PGA
of America have a tremendous focus on the
28,000 club professionals in our country. The
golf season for a lot of people is more relevant
early in the season than late in the season. So
if you’re focused on job creation and growth
of the game, and really energising the start
of the participatory side and the professional
side, that’s something that might be
interesting to you.”
Or not. Bevacqua has some logistical
concerns. He knows that the Olympics
could force him to change the date of his
championship every four years. That won’t be
the case in Tokyo in 2020, when the Olympic
men’s golf is scheduled to finish on August 1,
but it is likely to apply to future Games. His
responsibility is to his organisation and his
championship and, above all, to do no harm.
But if Bevacqua and his board conclude
that moving the PGA to May has no serious
consequences, his choice comes down to
whether he should help out the US Tour, and
arguably, all of golf as an entertainment
product that can stimulate the game.
Essentially, to take one for the team.
Although, warns PGA of America president
Paul Levy: “We understand why the PGA
Tour wants to get away from football, but
that’s not a driving force for us.”
Bevacqua and Monahan genuinely get
‘ALL THE OTHER PROFESSIONAL
SPORTS HAVE TWO TO THREE MONTHS OFF.
WE DON’T HAVE ANY TIME OFF.’ —JASON DUFNER
may 2017 | australiangolfdigest.com.au 81
078-083_AGD0517_Sawgrass.indd 81
5/04/2017 2:44 pm